small government

Bloomberg suggests his rhetoric doesn't match reality

(Newser) -
When Mitt Romney says he favors a small government, does he mean the kind that built a Bain Capital-owned company in California a conveyor belt bridge between two of its buildings? Or the kind that helped buy new equipment for a Bain steel plant in Indiana—a plant he's...
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Government has hurt Americans, not the rich, says Ross Douthat

(Newser) -
You can raise taxes on the rich to fight inequality, but that will only "trim the tallest poppies" and won't do anything to help the middle class, says Ross Douthat in the New York Times . "True social mobility and broadly shared prosperity are not so easily achieved,...
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Gay Republicans, Tea Partiers want brass to skip social issues

(Newser) -
Gay Republicans and Tea Party leaders are calling on Congressional Republicans to steer clear of social issues, Politico reports. In a letter, advocates ask John Boehner and Mitch McConnell to focus on “the principles of the Tea Party movement”—which they say have nothing to do with social...
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David Brooks: Bloated bureaucracies hamstrung by union demands

(Newser) -
Chris Christie's decision to scrap (for now) the Jersey-Manhattan tunnel raises a larger problem for David Brooks. Governments need big projects like these to prosper, but they can't afford them anymore—because the governments themselves are too big and bloated. Cities and states are hamstrung by the salaries and pensions...
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Party's reflexive small-government views will hurt US

(Newser) -
Tea Partiers and other critics of government largesse have made the Republican party ascendant just two years after its cause seemed hopeless. A clear purpose helps, and Republicans have it: stop the expansion of government. Return the country to its free-market roots. But this is a dangerous oversimplification of American...
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We're rehashing the stale debate of big vs. small government

(Newser) -
David Brooks sees himself as an advocate of "progressive conservatism," which he says puts him at the center ("or a step to the right") of American politics. And he's not happy with the plight of the "broad middle" these days. He had hopes that Barack...
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Cash-strapped government shrinks and shrinks

(Newser) -
Just how conservative is Colorado Springs? So conservative that even the Wall Street Journal says it’s “Taking Small Government to the Extreme.” The town is strapped for cash, but voters have rejected a tax increase, urging the government to slash services instead. Letters to the town council...
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Dick Armey gets Federalist Papers backward

(Newser) -
“The small-government conservative movement,” asserts Dick Armey, “is about the principles of liberty as embodied in the Constitution, the understanding of which is fleshed out if you read things like the Federalist Papers.” The tea party honcho and former House majority leader was, of course, trying...
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At CPAC, Minnesota gov. praises her alleged nine iron-antics

(Newser) -
Most of Tim Pawlenty’s speech to CPAC today was standard small government conservatism, but he decided to illustrate his point with a Tiger Woods joke of questionable taste: “We can learn a lot from that situation, not from Tiger, but from his wife,” the normally staid Minnesota...
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He's shifting toward political organizer, plans big DC rally

(Newser) -
Glenn Beck is fashioning himself into a political organizer. Beck unveiled his promised "big plan" today at a Florida rally , in a letter to supporters, and in an interview with the New York Times . He plans a series of educational "conventions" across the country to teach people "...
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Host forgets that founding fathers saw government as essential to liberty

(Newser) -
In honor of July 4th, Sean Hannity has been encouraging his audience to buy pocket copies of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. But he might want to read them a little more closely himself, notes Henry Claw for the New Majority. “We do believe that all men are...
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